The way I see it there are at least three aspects I should keep in mind.
1. Aspect 1 (Moments): Be present in the moment. I need to keep my mind on where I am and what I’m doing at this moment, and not let my mind wander to other places. When I’m with my son, my mind should be on him and not on what other things I need to be doing or accomplish. When I’m nursing my daughter I should be enjoying that moment with her and not thinking about what mayhem my son is wreaking as part of his bedtime routine with my husband.
2. Aspect 2 (Moments): Life is short, and kids grow up fast. Two of my cousins lost their mom to cancer. My heart aches for them, and for her. A three year old girl in my son’s music class last year is fighting her own battle with cancer right now. These are painful, wretched reminders to not take any life for granted. But even without the tragedy, life goes by way too fast. The cliché statement “the days are long but the years are short” is cliché because it is so very true. These kids grow up F-A-S-T. When I hold my baby daughter in my arms I realize that I no longer fully remember what it felt like to hold my son as a baby. My head and heart remember, but there’s no way that I can ever fully remember that experience. It’s clouded with the memory of how it feels to hold him now. I’m glad that I know that I fully enjoyed that moment in time holding him as a baby and that it wasn’t wasted.
3. Aspect 3 (Enjoyment): Life with kids is hard. Really, really hard. And so I want to always strive to enjoy it, even when I’m not really enjoying it. It’s hard to enjoy my son’s nightly tantrums about going to sleep – the way he keeps popping up like a weeble doll and coming to the living room to sob “I don’t WANT to go to bed alone!” It’s as heartbreaking as it is maddening. But at least I can enjoy knowing that he’s at an age where he really, really just wants us to be with him – even if it’s every second of the day and it’s 2 hours past his bedtime. And when he’s driving me bonkers because he just. needs. to. brush. his. teeth. And instead he is getting distracted by every. little. thing I just need to take a deep breath and admire how cute his little body is dancing around the bathroom while he admires the color of the tile. And when he’s screaming about how he won’t eat his oatmeal because HE wanted to pour the oatmeal into the water – I need to just. …hmmm…I’m out of ideas. Someone help me on that one because seriously I don’t know of any way to turn that one around.*
*I know, I know, all my examples about the times it is hard to enjoy parenting were about my son instead of my daughter. I can’t help it. Three is a tough age. Why does no one warn you about age 3?? But that’s another post.
Amen, amen, amen. Does it seem like nearly 3 years ago you wrote this post? Time does go fast. Especially once you have children. Blogging has been so wonderful because I really capture and remember so many of those experiences I would otherwise forget.
ReplyDeleteThree IS a tough age, but how I love looking back and remembering the things they did and how on earth we survived it (answer: have a good sense of humor when they're little - and as much grace and patience as possible as they grow up.
Perhaps you're writing somewhere else, now, but if not - I hope you'll get back to it! You'll so treasure those memories that you've captured whether in a blog or journal. Stay well and keep on enjoying the parenting moment! :)